I have finally summoned the courage to place a small memory of my dear friend of more than twenty years. Many might think that because we never met in person, we might not mean so much to each other, but I met Joyce through email as I was writing devotionals in the late 1990s. Joyce joined our email list and the rest is really history. We hit it off, sight unseen, right away and would often email each other exclusively.  When we lost touch for about six years, I thought I had lost my friend forever, until lo and behold, I found her again on face book and again, it was just like a conversation that never had an interruption. 

Once again, our conversation has been interrupted, but I believe we shall speak again one day in eternity. Joyce and I proved that someone can "touch" us in the heart as well as up close and personal. 

We the members of the Rising Star Baptist Church would like to send our sincere condolences. We Love you and will continue to pray for Sis Glenna Martin and family 

Aunt Joyce, Aunt Joyce I dont even know where to begin from you giving me my 1st pig foot or we talking on the phone about the Dallas Cowboys you were sweet loving and kind and always had genuine advise Im going to miss our deepest conversations about life and the family and all those hours we laughed so hard both of us was crying especially those good ole recipes honestly I'm going to miss you in general I'm glad your not being shipped and moved and finally resting in heaven  I love you so and I'm going to miss you more!!

Joyce once was the President of the Brook Benton Club and a great dancer. Joyce was a noted poet and wrote poems and prose for various occasions and subjects. She often would write framed work for graduates, special occasions and just the state of the nation, Joyce recalls the birth of her younger siblings and has written fond memories about them. Her works were even featured in the League of American Poets. She loved all sports, and was a RIDE or DIE Dallas Cowboys fan!
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As a child, when Aunt Joyce came to town, she would give us a bag of pennies and we would run to the store truck and buy candy, cookies, soda, chips, pickles, you name it and have a party!

When Aunt Joyce came to town, she would give us a bag of pennies and we would run to the store truck and buy candy, cookies, soda, chips, pickles, you name it and have a party! 🥳🤩🥯🍦🍪🍫

My sister, Joyce (Mary), will most certainly leave a huge vacancy in the family and amongst her many Internet friends. Joyce was special in so many ways. She delighted in bringing joy to others.  She was in her element when Christmas rolled around. She would fill her small apartment with gifts everyone. She also delighted in receiving gifts. She loved the Dallas Cowboys. She would share every score made and every opportunity missed with various family members throughout the whole game. She would be temporarily down whenever the Cowboys lost or whenever the Philadelphia Eagles won...it didn't matter whether or not they were playing the Cowboy. I will miss my big sister.

I’ll never forget the pot pies, the chili dogs drenched in chili, the hot water cornbread that I wasn’t too fond of.

But most of all I’ll never forget the love Aunt Joyce displayed in disciplining my brother, Byron and I. See, she’d told us once to stop jumping in the bed....Did we listen, of course not. It wasn’t  until she came bursting through that door in the home on Bellbrook Dr. with that belt in her hand and tearing our black ashy legs up, for us to stop jumping in the bed! I love you Aunt Joyce 
-Dane 

Aunt Joyce was immensely proud of her family "The Browns" and loved all  her nieces and nephews as if they were her own children. Whenever I called home she was quick to give me an update of all the recent accomplishments and challenges my cousins faced. I will miss all her stories of growing up with my aunt's and uncles her travels and all the places she lived. I'll miss that infectious laugh, razor sharp memory for things from the past and present her good cooking  and generous heart. Love you Aunt Joyce you'll be deeply missed but never forgotten with Love and deepest gratitude for being part of my life. Love, Jeff

She Lived, She Laughed and She Loved. We've found many handwritten notes of her saying just that...and that when she passes on, for us to not to worry because life owes her nothing and that she will be gone from here to live up yonder eternally. She's now with Daddy, Mother, Siblings: Richard, Tommie Jean, Dianne, Candy, Joe, David, Louis....Some Nieces, Nephews, and Cousins, She said to always remember that she's saying as one of our Nephews says, "I'm Happy Now!"

She beat the odds of life over and over again throughout her life. She didn't give birth to any children, but she raised many, including me, her little sister as she called me all of my life. She says she was 16 when I was born and that she carried me around until I insisted upon walking. She has done like wise with many of our nieces and nephews and certainly my daughter. The "Ode to Aunt Joyce" poem which can be seen on her FB page, by our niece Kyria, encapsulates Joyce's life very well.

"When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”... “Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” - 1 Corinthians 15:54-55

OBITUARY

Mary Joyce Neal

March 9, 1934 – May 30, 2021

Singing Hills Funeral Home

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